Backcountry skiers on alpine touring gear are able to move through snow with grace and ease. Surprisingly, using climbing wires and skins, the effortless fluid motions of cross country skiing also can be adapted to ‘ski uphill’. The uphill ski technique has revolutionized the art, and is much less exhausting than hiking in deep snow. In contrast, a hiker must raise a boot above the snow for each step, only to sink in or slip when planting the boot for the next step—effort multiplied by thousands of steps. Combining alpine touring and snowboarding led to a whole new recreational sport, called “splitboarding”, which allows the splitboarder to ascend the slopes on a pair of skis and then couple the ski halves together to form a solid board (resembling a snowboard) for the descent. Initially this innovation offered a way to reach backcountry mountains, where the snow was untracked; and for exploring the beauty and solitude of the wild upcountry. But as the sport has expanded, splitboards are also increasingly used at ski resorts “in-bounds” and where ski lifts are provided as many resorts now offer access to the backcountry where some kind of touring gear is needed. This popularity is because of their flexibility in alternating between a ski or touring mode and a snowboard descent mode and the availability of aids such as climbing skins.
While derived from snowboarding, the splitboarder has the option of being a snowboarder on the downhill or a skier for the uphill. The rider may disassemble the board and either carry the two ski halves or ski uphill to a backcountry destination; then reassemble the board halves and ride downhill in a generally side stance. Advantageously, in the splitboard riding mode the rider's legs are rigidly anchored together on the board, reducing the risk of knee injury associated with downhill skiing. Two boot binding interfaces are provided. A special “ski tour interface” is used for skiing. A “snowboard ride mode interface” is used when riding the board in its “solid board” or “snowboard” configuration (sometimes termed “descent mode”).
Splitboards were first made by Ueli Bettenman, as described European Pat. Doc. Nos. CH681509, CH684825, German Gebrauchsmuster DE9108618, and EP0362782B1, first under the tradename Snowhow, and later in conjunction with Nitro (Seattle, Wash.). Another early entrant commercially was Voile (Salt Lake City, Utah). The popular “Split Decision” introduced a binding system essentially as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,324 to Wariakois. The patent describes a “slider track” with insertable toe pivot pin for each foot, the slider track consisting of pairs of “slider blocks” mounted crosswise on each ski member for receiving a boot binding baseplate, the baseplate also serving as a pivot axle for “free heel” ski touring. This innovation resulted in substantial growth of interest in splitboarding in the United States and has had a worldwide impact on the sport. Ritter, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,823,905, 8,226,109, 9,022,412, and 9,126,099 discloses a stiffer, lower and lighter binding for spanning slider blocks mounted crosswise on the splitboard. These bindings are being commercialized by Spark R&D of Bozeman MT. However, substantial effort continues into packaging climbing wires, a heelblock, crampons, heel locking device, and other accessories into a boot binding baseplate that can be attached to a “ski touring” interface and yet is also compatible with a splitboard “ride mode” interface.
A solution to these and interrelated problems is only achieved by trial and error. Thus, there is a need in the art, for a climbing wire and heelblock assembly that overcomes the disadvantages of systems that require the rider to remove any cold weather gloves or break out a toolkit to make adjustments.